Jenny Creech Earns National Journalism Education Honor

St. Mark’s School of Texas journalism instructor Jenny Creech has been named a 2026 Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year Distinguished Adviser, one of the nation’s highest honors for high school journalism educators. 

Creech has served as the full-time faculty to St. Mark’s student publications since 2022. She oversees the The ReMarker newspaper, the Marksmen yearbook, the smremarker.com news website, and Focus magazine. In addition, she teaches a year-long Beginning Journalism course that prepares students interested in joining one of the School’s publications. 

Before joining St. Mark’s, Creech spent more than twenty years as a professional journalist at the Houston Chronicle and The New York Times. Previously, she taught sports journalism at the University of Houston and has also led numerous journalism workshops. 

“I’m so grateful for this recognition from CSPA, and so thankful for this organization that has worked tirelessly to support student journalism for more than one hundred years,” Creech said. “I truly love journalism. And while I loved working as a reporter and editor in professional newsrooms, the joy and purpose I feel being able to share my love for journalism in a classroom every day is the most rewarding work I’ve ever done.” 

Under Creech’s leadership, student journalists at St. Mark’s have continued a tradition of excellence, earning multiple regional and national honors, including CSPA Crown Awards and National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker Awards. 

For Creech, journalism is about helping students understand the responsibility of reporting on the world around them. 

“At its root, journalism is about community,” she said. “Helping these young men tell the stories of this amazing community is a great honor.” 

Her classroom and office reflect the collaborative nature of the program. 

“I had a student recently describe my office as ‘Grand Central Station,’ and it’s a pretty spot-on description,” Creech said. “My office is always full of reporters or editors workshopping story ideas, discussing sources, or drawing out designs on scratch sheets of paper. There’s rarely a quiet — and never a dull — moment in there. I’ll worry if my office is ever empty.” 

She says those moments of discovery and collaboration are the most rewarding. 

“I love seeing the boys collaborate and problem-solve. The moments where they figure out the perfect headline, or a design idea comes together, or a source they’ve been trying to reach calls them back, those wins for them are the best parts of my days.” 

Student journalists often spend evenings and weekends reporting, editing, and designing their publications, work Creech says they approach with a strong sense of duty. 

“They do this work because documenting history for our community is a privilege and a responsibility,” she said. “Seeing that work recognized goes a long way.” 

Creech will be honored March 19, 2026, at the CSPA 102nd Annual Spring Convention held on the campus of Columbia University in New York City.